Machine for applying multicolored flock



NOV. 13, 1945. w RlGGENBACH 2,388,999

MACHINE Fbn PPLy'mG MULTICOLORED FLOCK I s Sheets-Sheet 1 Fi iefl Aug. 27, 1945 IN V EN TOR.

Nov. 13, 195 J. w. RIGGENBACH MACHINE FOR APPLYING MULTICOLORED FLQCK File d Aug. 27, 1945 F 3 Sheefs-Sheet 3 Patented Nov. 13, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR APPLYING MULTICOLORED FLOCK John W. Riggenbach, Barrington, R. 1. Application August 27, 1943, Serial No. 500,298

Claims.

ers which fit into the compartments so that the adhesive motifs or designs, printed in rectilinear lanes on the paper or cloth will be supplied with respective diiferent colors of flock adhering to the blankets as the paper or cloth travels through the machine. e

A further object is to provide apparatus of this character in which the flock is applied first to the bottom side of the traveling web of paper or fabric then the web is inverted so that the flock will be applied to the top side of the web during travel of the web through the machine.

A further object is to provide apparatus of this character in which collecting pans, equipped with respective sectional rollers and scrapers, intercept the traveling web and assure a sufficient supply of flock being applied to the adhesive motifs or designs printed on the web while removing and catching excess flock so that the same will not gravitate to the floor, thus assurin economy in operation.

A further object is to provide apparatus of this character which will be formed of a few strong,

simple and durable parts, which will be inexpensive to manufacture, and which will not easily get out of order.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and-claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with the invention for applying multi-colored flock.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the machine shown in Figure 1 with portions of the blankets broken away to expose the beater bars.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional View of the machine taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a detail longitudinalsectional view of the machine taken on the line 44 of Figure 3 and showing the means for adjusting the flock pans vertically and also permitting removal of the pans for cleaning and refilling with flock.

35 of which receives a driving belt Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing one of the flock pans.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary showing one of the collector pans.

perspective view 5 Referring now to the drawings in which like characters of reference designate similar parts in the various views, Ill designates a suitable frame formed preferably corner bars H and horizontally disposed bars I2 10 connecting the vertical bars at the sides and ends,

the bars preferably being formed of angular metal. At each end of the frame are a pair of superposed sectional rollers l3. The sections of the rollers carry respective endless cloth belts l5 l4, called blankets, in the art.

A flock supply pan i5 is supported by the frame l0 underneath .the upper rollers, and another underneath the lower rollers, see Figure 1, each pan having longitudinal partitions I6 dividing the pan into compartments, see Figure 5, equal in number to the number of sections of the rollers, the compartments containing flock in various distinctive desired colors. The sections of the rollers are cloth'covered as shown at H in Figure 1 to irictionally engage and drive the respective blankets which latter are received in respective compartments of the flock pans and pick up a supply of flock while traveling through the compartments.

Each sectional roller is provided with a respective shaft 18, and one roller of each pair of'rollers on the same level forms a drive roller so that the shaft of this roller is equipped with a pulley l9, 9

see Figure 2, preferably having three grooves one l9 driven by a motor 20' and another of which receives a belt 2| which is'trained over the drive pulley of the drive roller of the underneath pair of rollers, the third groove receiving a belt for driving a sep- 40 arate sectional roller later described and indicated at 20 in Figures 1 and 2.

It is customary in flock applying machines to initially print or impregnate the cloth web 2| to be threaded, with adhesive in predetermined motifs or designs, and for this purpose the present invention employs a conventional printing machine designated in general by the numeral 22 to which the cloth web is fed from a supply roll 23 supported upon a suitable frame 24, the webpassing through the printing machine and having the adhesive in various, or a single color applied thereto in longitudinal lanes. From the printing machine the web carrying the designs or motifs of adhesive is placed on the traveling blankets of the initial sectional roller of the upper tier of rollers to be supplied with flock during travel of of vertically disposed hesive designs or the web through the machine. Flock print cloth, if sufiiciently sheer, will permit the adhesive to penetrate the cloth and appear both on the top and bottom face of the Web. In the present machine the bottom face of the web is first threaded with flock picked up by the blankets as it travels with the blankets of the upper tier of sectional rollers and subsequently the top surface of the travelingv webis motifsas the web encountersand is fed back through the machine by the blanket of the rollers of the lower tier of rollers.

A plurality of beater bars 25 are mounted on the frame so as to contact the upper reaches of the upper and lower sets of blankets of the machine. These beater bars are of substantially square cross section, see Figur 4, and have their ends turned cylindrical and mounted i bearings 26 carried by the frame. One end of each beater bar is equipped with a respective grooved pulley 2'1. superposed electric motors 28 are mounted on the frame, see Figure 1 The motors drive respectively, the upper row of beater bars and the lower row of beater" bars through the medium of respective belts 29 trained alternately over and under the pulleys to rotate adjacent beater bars oppositely to each other. The beater bars revol'ving' at high speed under and against the sectional blankets beat the flock carried by the blankets into the adhesive motif or designs by vibrating the blankets.

The heretofore mentioned sectional roller 26 is mounted on an extension 30of the frame if! rearwardly' of and between the upper and lower sets of traveling blankets; see Figure l. A pan 3| is mounted on the frame extension 36 and receives the sectional roller. The pan is provided with partitions 32, see Figure 6, corresponding in number to the partitions of the flock pans I and is also provided with a scraper 9 on one longitudinal edge, see Figure 1. The sectional roller- Ml is a duplicate of the sectional rollers l3 and is provided with a shaft 33' bearings 34 on the frame extension 30. One end of the shaft is equipped with a ulley 35, see Figure' 2, which, as before mentioned, has a belt 35 passing around the same and around the third groove of the drive pulley I 9' to drive the sectional roller. The cloth web is trained over the topside of the sectional roller 20 and then is formed with a slack loop 36, see Figure l, and then is delivered to the lower set of traveling blankets, this loop preventing smearing of the flock on the motifs or designs ofadhesive and also serving to dispose the underneath surface of the traveling web on the traveling blankets of the lowermost set of traveling blankets for application of flock to the adhesive designs.

The roller 20 and pan 3| scraper 9 collect excess flock formity of application of the s the flock falling to the floor and being wasted. A sectional roller 31, similar to the roller 20 is mounted on an extension 38 of the frame [0 at the front end of the frame Ill and also a pan 39, similar to the pan 3!, is mounted on the extension. The roller 31 is a driven roller and the ,raveling web of cloth with the flock applied thereto passes over the top of this roller when leaving the machine and then the cloth i festooned by an automatic conveyor and carried into a heating chamber, not shown, as is conventional in flock printing.

The flock pans together with the thus assuring uni- H: are each mounted on a respective horizontal frame 40 having four de- 4 which is mounted in supplied withflock onthe ad- 7 flock and prevent 'tional rollers l3 at the pending legs 4| at the corners, see Figure 4. The legs are braced by inclined braces 42. The legs are provided with vertical slots 43 through which, suitable openings in the vertical bars I I of the frame bolts 44 are engaged and are provided with wing nuts 45. Loosening of the wing nuts permit the frames 40 to be lowered to remove the flock pans l5 from the respective sectional pulleys l3 to effect cleaning and filling with flock; Also adjustment of' the bolts 44 permit the pans being elevated as the supply therein decreases to permit the traveling blankets to pick up the proper amount of flock.

For tightening the traveling blankets the secfront end of the machine, that is the end into which the traveling web of cloth is initially fed, are provided with respective belt tighteners. Each belt tightener comprises a bearing 46, see Figure' l, which receives the respective end of the shaft I8 of the sectional pulley. The bearing is slidably mounted on a base 47 carried by the frame Ill and is provided with an integral nut 48 which receives a feed screw 49 rotatably mounted on the base. The feed screw is eq ipped with a hand wheel 50 for rotating the feed screw to cause the nut 48 to travel thereon and move the bearing 46 outwardly from the frame 10 to tighten the traveling blankets.

Since the operation of the various parts has been described as the description of the parts progrossed it is thought the invention will be fully understood without further explanation.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for applying multi-colored flock comprising, a frame, superposed sectional rollers at the front and rear ends of the frame, an upper set of endless carrier blankets trained over respective sections of the upper rollers, a lower set of endless carrier blankets trained over the sections of the lower rollers, means for driving the rollers to actuate the blankets, superposed pans on the frame respectively receiving the lower reaches of the upper and lower sets of blankets, compartments in each pan equal in number to the number of respective blankets adapted to supply distinctively colored flock to the blankets traveling through the compartments, a plurality of beater bars of angular cross section on the frame below and in contact with the upper reaches of the upper and lower sets of blankets for vibrating the blankets to beat flock into a web of cloth sup ported by the blankets and impregnated with adhesive motifs or designs, means for rotating the beater bars, a sectional roller mounted below and in rear of the upper sectional roller at the rear end of the frame, a pan having compartments receiving the sections of the last named roller, said web of cloth being trained over the last named roller and being formed below the roller with a slack loop and then being trained onto the blankets of the lower set of blankets at the rear end of the machine, means for rotating the last named roller, and a scraper on the last named roller engaging the roller to move excess flock from the web of cloth to be collected by the compartments of the last named pan.

2. The structure as of claim 1 and in which there is added thereto a sectional roller mounted below and in front of the upper sectional roller at the front end of the frame, said web of cloth being discharged'from the lower set of endless carrier blankets over said roller at the front end of the machine, a scraper on said roller engaging the roller to remove excess flock from the web of cloth, and a pan having compartments receiving the sections of the roller and collecting excess flock removed by said scraper. s

3. The structure as of claim 1 and in which the means for driving the rollers to actuate the blankets comprises pulleys connected to the upper and lower sectional rollers at one end of the machine, means for driving the rollers simultaneously, and means trained over one of said pulleys adapted to be connected to any suitable source of power.

4. The structure as of claim 1 and in which said means for rotating the beater bars comprises respective pulleys connected to the'beater bars of each row of beater bars, a belt trained alternately over and under the pulleys of a row of the pulleys to rotate adjacent beater bars in opposite directions, and an electric motor connected to one of gaged through the slots of the legs and through openings in the first named frame permitting the pans to be raised and lowered relatively to the respective sectional rollers.

JOHN W. RIGGENBACH. 

